Be honest… would you be ok with your child in a classroom like this?! Apparently common in state sector

[Mrppp]

our daughter is due to start school next September. We learned today that the classes are merged from ages 5 to 9. So 5 and 6 year olds in one class, 7 and 8 in another etc. This means in some instances children with be two years apart, depending when they are born, but in the same class?

surely this is crazy? Development is huge over a year at that age?

My primary was like this it was good for me and gave me access to higher level work

I've got a very bright September born child and I'm curious as to how similar children would be affected by this.

I can see how it would benefit them when they were in the younger year in the class, as they could work with the older children, but are there any negatives when in the older year, given that there would be children two years younger than them that would presumably need more support?

I'm asking because DS's school is not like this, but he has the option of attending one that is and I'm wondering how that would have impacted him.

That was also in East London not a remote rural idyl!

Mine went to a primary school in the suburbs of a large Scottish city and they were in composite classes many years. The intake in DD1's year was 41 so a group of the P1s (including DD1) were put with a group of P2s and the rest of the school was reorganised too.
Core work is taught in ability groups so every time the school needed to form composite classes, they organised them based on English or Maths groups.

Not the Uk but my 3 and nearly 6 yr old are same class and I love it. I don’t understand why kids can only learn and play with children born in a specific 12 month period. Also has been brilliant for one DC as she is ahead of her age in some things and it was easy for her to go with the year older children in the class for different things. I also think it’s been good for both of them to have different aged friends, they all kind of play together and the big ones look out for the little ones. I do think it’s hard for the teacher but luckily class sizes are small (14-20) and they have a full time TA.

My worry comes with the next age, a 6yr old in a class with 8/9yr olds, will she pick up on behaviour or topics that are too old for her. Will have to wait and see. There are also a lot more boys to girls in her class which is just down to luck and whilst not an issue for her now it could become one.

It's quite common in both over and under subscribed schools in any area.
Depending on the numbers per year group there may only be enough children for 3 classes across 2 age groups, so rather than 4 classes of 20 children (which will cost a lot more across the school) they will have 3 classes of ~27 children with around half from each year group in each class.

@AllIWantIsACuppa I don't remember there being any issues when I was one of the older children. It did mean that you might do group work in more creative subjects like technology where you might design something together (I remember building a money box) the older children did the sawing of wood the younger ones did more of the designing, working together with the younger ones, like siblings working on a project which is probably a good thing.

It was a time when TAs and parent helpers were plentiful so splitting into groups perhaps easier than today.

Didn’t you know this before applying or have they only just introduced it?

That was my primary school experience and we had no problems :)

This is not a new thing I started school in 1978 and we had composite classes .

It can work really well. Expect more of this as intakes into primary schools are dropping in some areas and budgets are getting impossibly tight.

It's very common in some schools, often smaller ones.

My dc went to a small village primary with mixed classes. Both mine are summer born so had children almost 2 years older in the same class.

The staff are used to it, and in a small village te children often hang out with different year groups anyway.

In a town or city I'd say its very unusual, but in a small village it's quite common. How come you've only just realised this?

Dd2 went to a small private and the junior classes were like this and tbh it was a nightmare.

You have to factor in if children have SN as well. Dd basically ended up repeating year 1 in y2 and we pulled her out for year 3 and it took her a long time to catch up. Sometimes the bridge is to big to gap

It depends on the size of the school and class really. They do it in my DDs primary and never been an issue, they've been on both sides for example DD was in a class of year 3&4 last year in year 3 and now in year 4 again with some year 3 in the class. Class size is 24.
They give them work based on ability not age anyway.
I think it's quite common especially in smaller schools, they just wouldn't have the staff to keep all the year groups in separate classes.

Apparently common in state sector
What do you mean by that?

My children went to a small rural school with classes like these. Even with the combined years the maximum in each class was about 16. It worked really well. The only slight problem was the smaller friendship pool or when kids were friends across the years then then the year 6 kids would go to secondary school and they tended not to keep up with their year 5 friends.

Totally normal where I lived when my children were at primary school. Whilst it would be nonsense to say that it suited every child there are generations of children for whom it was no problem at all and it certainly had no negative effect on my own children

And to answer your question, yes I'd be totally OK with it

I don’t like composite classes so no I wouldn’t like this. I am however surprised you’ve only just worked this out when your child starts in September - did you not go to a single information evening? tour the school before you applied? This is on you to be honest!

State schools are free schools, private or independent schools are where parents pay fees.

How big is the school? It used to be the norm in even big primaries but it's now more usual in small village schools

Some of my DGC go to one and I can't praise it enough.

I expect she means she has been told it is common in the state sector. Which it is, in rural areas and villages lucky enough to still have a school.

Not at all, largest LA in the UK and many of our rural schools have two classes. EY/KS1 and KS2.

I think something like 55% of our schools have less than 60 pupils.

At the primary I attended despite being two form entry we had this, the only class that wasn’t mixed was year 6. At the UK school our son attended all classes but reception and six were mixed.

Yes - village primary.

It was great for the first year as DS was a very bright child and enjoyed it. He was working to a higher level than his peer group. By the first half term of his next year in the class we realised he was effectively repeating the previous year....

We moved schools.